Chapter 4 - The Driver Who Was Supposed to Be Dead

St. Agnes was forty minutes away.

Marcus went.

Henry went.

I went.

Adriana insisted on coming.

Edward was left at the estate under Marcus's security.

Not a prisoner.

Not officially.

But the gates remained closed.

Thomas Grant lived on the third floor.

Room 317.

He was awake when we arrived.

Thin.

White hair.

Clear eyes.

A television played without sound.

Marcus stepped inside.

Thomas looked at him once.

Then at the compass tattoo.

His face changed.

"Daniel's boy."

Marcus stopped.

"You knew my father."

Thomas smiled sadly.

"I knew your father before you could walk."

Marcus sat.

No introduction.

No small talk.

"Where did you drive him on December twenty-third, 2005?"

Thomas's eyes moved toward Henry.

"You finally told him."

Henry replied:

"Not enough."

Thomas looked at Marcus.

"Your father asked me to take him to a church outside Baltimore."

"Why?"

"Your mother was supposed to meet him there."

Marcus leaned forward.

"Did she?"

"No."

Marcus looked confused.

Thomas continued:

"Edward changed the route."

Adriana whispered:

"What?"

Thomas looked at her.

"You are Bell's granddaughter."

"Yes."

He sighed.

"Then you should hear it too."

He looked at Marcus.

"Your father got into the car at nine that night."

"Was Edward with him?"

"No."

"But one of Edward's men followed us."

"Who?"

"Victor Dane."

Henry frowned.

"He worked security."

Thomas nodded.

"At the old Bell warehouse, Victor blocked the road."

Marcus asked:

"What happened?"

"Your father told me to keep driving."

"You did?"

"I tried."

Thomas looked at his hands.

"They hit the car."

Adriana went pale.

"Another vehicle?"

"Yes."

Thomas continued:

"We went through a fence."

Marcus said nothing.

"Daniel was hurt."

"Badly?"

"His head was bleeding."

Thomas swallowed.

"Victor came to the window."

Marcus's voice lowered.

"And?"

"Daniel had a gun."

The room went silent.

Marcus asked:

"Did he shoot Victor?"

"No."

"Did Victor shoot him?"

"No."

Thomas shook his head.

"Daniel gave Victor a bank key."

Marcus looked at the brass key in his hand.

"This?"

Thomas stared at it.

Then nodded.

"That looks like it."

Marcus frowned.

"Then how did my father get it back?"

Thomas said:

"He didn't give Victor the real one."

Henry almost smiled.

Thomas continued:

"Your father had copied it."

Marcus looked at the key again.

"What did the real key open?"

"A private deposit room."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

Thomas reached toward the drawer beside his bed.

His hand trembled.

I helped him open it.

Inside was an old leather wallet.

He removed a folded receipt.

Safe Harbor Storage.

Unit 108.

Marcus stared.

Thomas said:

"Daniel gave me this two years after he disappeared."

Marcus froze.

"Two years after?"

Adriana looked at Henry.

Henry looked equally shocked.

Marcus stood.

"You saw my father in 2007?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"At a train station in Philadelphia."

Marcus could barely speak.

"He was alive."

"Yes."

"Why didn't he come home?"

Thomas looked at him for a long moment.

"Because you were being watched."

Marcus's face hardened.

"By Edward?"

"By many people."

Thomas shook his head.

"Your father had helped build a financial machine. Edward was only the man closest to him."

Marcus paced once.

Then stopped.

"Did he ask about me?"

Thomas smiled.

"First thing."

Marcus looked away.

Thomas continued:

"He knew where you went to school."

Marcus turned back.

"He knew?"

"He had photographs."

Marcus's eyes narrowed.

"Of me?"

"Birthday photographs. School photographs. A baseball game."

Marcus whispered:

"He watched me."

"From far away."

Marcus's voice broke slightly.

"Why?"

"Because he believed coming near you would get you killed."

Adriana put a hand over her mouth.

Thomas continued:

"Daniel told me Sarah was alive too."

Marcus looked at him.

"Together?"

"Not then."

"Did he find her?"

Thomas hesitated.

"Eventually."

Marcus froze.

"You know that?"

"I received one postcard in 2018."

Thomas reached into the wallet again.

A postcard.

No picture.

Only writing.

T.G.

FOUND HER.

SHE STILL HATES MY COFFEE.

TELL HENRY I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE BLUE CAR.

D.

Marcus sat down again.

His eyes stayed on the handwriting.

His father had been alive in 2018.

Thirteen years after disappearing.

Marcus whispered:

"My mother knew."

Henry said:

"Probably."

Marcus looked angry again.

"She let me ask what happened to him."

Thomas shook his head.

"Maybe she wanted you to find his side before hearing hers."

Marcus looked at the Safe Harbor receipt.

"Unit 108."

Thomas nodded.

"Your father told me one thing."

"What?"

"If Marcus ever finds the unit, let him open it alone."

Adriana looked at Marcus.

Marcus looked at her.

Then at Henry.

Then at me.

"No."

Thomas frowned.

Marcus folded the receipt.

"I've had enough of people deciding what truth I can handle."

He stood.

"We open it together."

Thomas called after him.

"Marcus."

He stopped.

Thomas said:

"Your father was guilty of many things."

Marcus waited.

"But disappearing from you was the one thing he never forgave himself for."

Marcus said nothing.

He walked out.

In the hallway, Adriana caught up.

"Marcus."

He kept walking.

She asked:

"What if the unit proves my grandfather killed him?"

Marcus stopped.

Then looked at her.

"What if it proves he didn't?"

She stared.

Marcus continued:

"Which answer are you afraid of?"

Adriana could not respond.

Then my phone rang.

It was the estate.

I answered.

One of Marcus's guards spoke.

"Nina, Mr. Bell collapsed."

Marcus turned.

I listened.

Then the guard added:

"But before the ambulance arrived, he disappeared."

Marcus stared at me.

"What?"

I lowered the phone.

"Edward is gone."

Henry whispered:

"He knows about the unit."

Marcus looked at the brass key.

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Then toward the elevator.

"Then we get there first."